Passions run high during election cycles and sometimes candidates lose perspective about the real reason they should be seeking office — the opportunity to be servants of the people — and the contest becomes ego-driven.
When that happens, winning becomes everything and dissenting voices are no longer tolerated.
This week, The Chronicle received reports from the camps of two candidates in The Dalles mayoral race about people being harassed for posting campaign signs. Apparently, supporters of the other candidate were upset enough to harass the sign holder for exercising free speech.
Signs are also reportedly being stolen, as happens every election year, which is an infringement on property rights.
In other reports, Oregon officials are being demonized for being in the same political party as one or another of the presidential candidates because of comments he or she has made.
The growing divide between ideologies in the U.S. is clearly demonstrated by the 2016 presidential election. And it is more important now than ever that Americans understand that freedom of speech is more than an individual right — it is fundamental to human progress.
Our founders understood free speech to be one of the most important institutions of liberty because it was good for society as a whole. People able to express themselves and share ideas develop more fully as human beings and are more innovative.
Alexander Meiklejohn, philosopher and university administrator from the early 20th century, was one of the most notable proponents of free speech in America because of its link to self-governance by the people. He maintained that a democratic form of government required an informed electorate, so there needed to be no constraints on the free flow of information and ideas.
Let’s look at the early evolution of free speech rights. Historians contend that the medieval church was vehemently opposed to innovations that threatened its position, which led to suppression of early English versions of the Bible.
Because information travelled slowly during those times, people remained largely ignorant of new ideas and inventions.
When the printing press was invented in the 15th century, it changed the world. Information could be mass produced and ideas could travel more quickly.
Literacy exploded and, as people learned to read the Bible for themselves, Reformation movements grew across Europe.
The press also allowed the spread of other new ideas. People came up with new theories about the nature of reality and these were tested, allowing the world to falsify mistaken ones.
The church, threatened by this turn of events, tried to regulate the production of printers in the form of early copyright laws.
But free speech lives in the soul of the people and will find its way out. Over the course of decades, people have found new and better ways to share thoughts and ideas.
Of course, freedom of speech and expression are not absolute and common limitations have been put into place: libel, slander, obscenity, pornography, sedition, incitement, fighting words, classified information, copyright violation, trade secrets, non-disclosure agreements, the right to privacy, perjury and public security. An unwillingness of a society to tolerate differing opinions leads to oppression of minority voices. The First Amendment was written to allow every person, no matter how lowly, the ability to protest an injustice.
And yet, more than two centuries after freedom of speech was enshrined in the Constitution, it is under attack in ways that regularly make the national news. As curbs on unfiltered expression grow tighter around the globe, a repressive darkness has descended.
The mainstream media in Russia is now once again heavily controlled by the state and several journalists who have asked tough questions in recent years have been murdered.
In China, Xi Jinping has doubled down on censorship of social media, arresting hundreds of dissidents. Syria, Libya and other Middle Eastern nations have become more dangerous for journalists than before the Arab Spring uprisings.
French cartoonists have been massacred for satirical drawing.
Opinion polls in many countries now show support for authorities throttling the expression of upsetting words.
Even America, the bastion of modern-day liberties, is faltering in support of free speech.
Speakers are disinvited to college campuses because students do not want to be offended by a different viewpoint. That attitude requires administrators to police what expression is allowed and what is not. Since offense is subjective, the power of censorship is both arbitrary and vast.
A university is supposed to be a place where students expand their intellectual horizons. How can that happen if differing opinions are off-limits?
Free speech is the best defense against bad government. It is vital to personal liberties that officials operate in an open and transparent manner and that citizens be allowed to protest bad policies.
Free Speech Week in the U.S. is Oct. 17-23 and this is a good time to remind ourselves why that right is fundamental to our way of life.
At the local level, we have the ability to bridge by tolerating free speech. We can show that humanity is more important than winning an argument or a race. Our local political figures need to remember this lesson as well: When this election is over, the real winner will be the person who, regardless of outcome, stood on principle and tolerated dissent. Because that is the value that builds community, not tears it down.
This is a time for everyone to apply the Golden Rule.
— R.R.
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